Showrunners - Training Gaps Analysis - Cultural Human Resources ...

Showrunners Training Gap Analysis
Supervise on set production
Interviewees agreed that it is very important that a Showrunner spend time on set, but also that it
must be possible to delegate this role. One director, who also fulfills Showrunner competencies,
was eloquent on the absence of on set experience amongst most Showrunners:
A lot of Showrunners in Canada and the U.S. have not had producing experience. They have been
in the writing room, and in edit, but not in production meetings. They don’t know what happens
in between writing and edit. They learn to write to budget based on what someone tells them, but
they have little practical experience. As a director, my experience in what happens on the floor is
essential in breaking stories, because I know what can be accomplished. It really helps to know
whether you can pull something off. (a director and producer)
Budgeting and scheduling
Many interviewees stressed the critical relationship with the line producer and the importance of a
Showrunner understanding how to: construct an achievable schedule; schedule personal time for
the Showrunner to be writing, on set and in post; negotiate choices within the budget to put the
money into certain scenes and not others; and, negotiate with the line producer and broadcaster.
Supervise post-production
It is virtually common knowledge that the edit is the final stage of writing. It is therefore critical
that the Showrunner be knowledgeable and involved with the editor’s role. The management of
this role is complicated by the overlap of prep, shooting and post-production as series are
produced. The interviews revealed a number of different versions of involving the Showrunner
with the edit process. In most cases, the Showrunner receives the Director’s cut and participates
in a final cut. In some cases, a writer is delegated to follow each script to set and through post to
provide consistency. In other cases, the demands of the writing room schedule and the shortage of
personnel mean that the Showrunner unfortunately has little direct participation in postproduction.
New production technologies
In production and post-production, Showrunners today are faced with the need to adapt to and
take advantage of new technologies and the new work processes they permit. High Definition
production, for example, has affected both the technical and creative aspects of production. There
is a constant need to be flexible and innovative, to embrace change, to demonstrate curiosity and
to use new technologies to gain a competitive advantage. Several interviewees highlighted these
personal skills as being of equal importance to basic writing and producing competencies.
Assist with distribution and exploitation
Creation of content to support distribution and exploitation is within the Showrunner’s list of
competencies. This includes publicity, promos, trailers, Internet components, licensing,
merchandising, media products. It was generally agreed that the competency “Create the Internet
component” should not be listed as a post-production activity but should be integrated throughout
the writing and production process. Not all interviewees are involved with these aspects of
production, but all feel that the Showrunner should have understanding of the opportunities for
exploitation of the story on multiple distribution platforms and in multiple formats.
For the most part, the series examined in the case studies are rooted in the business model of
broadcast television. The only series of those examined that is out of the traditional mold is
Sanctuary, a sci-fi series which began its life as a webisode before jumping to U.S. cable and
Canadian pay television broadcast. The production model for Sanctuary is similar to other series
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Deborah Carver and Benoit Dubois, January 2009